This invention relates to shipping containers and to devices for assembling kebabs.
Manual cutting of uniform cubes of meat and vegetables for assembly into shish kebabs is an arduous and time-consuming task if more than a relatively small number of kebabs are being assembled. For this reason, a relatively wide variety of devices have been developed to relieve the individual from the task of cutting each vegetable and piece of meat separately.
One such device for cutting "mock chicken legs" (i.e., cubes of meat on skewers) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,609,564. The device includes a table, a slotted box, a motor and a series of reciprocating blades. The table forms a square depression which is aligned with the reciprocating blades and which is sized to receive the box. The box has two opposing pairs of vertical sides and a bottom in which there is formed a grid of uniformly spaced rows and columns of grooves, in checkerboard fashion. Each pair of sides includes a series of vertical slots aligned with the grooves of the bottom. The machine is further provided with a top plate which rests within the sides of the box upon vertical spacer posts.
In operation, a plurality of layers of meat are placed in the box and are compressed by the top plate. A plurality of skewer sticks are then inserted downwardly through a series of countersunk apertures in the top plate, through the meat layers and into a corresponding series of countersunk bores at the bottom. The top plate is then removed, and the series of reciprocating blades is aligned in the top of the slots in one of the box's pair of opposing sides. The motor is then activated, causing the blades to cut through the meat to the bottom of the box. The blades are then removed from the box, and the box is lifted and turned horizontally 90.degree. and replaced in the recess of the table plate. The cutting operation is then repeated, whereupon the contents of the box forms a plurality of mock chicken legs.
Although kebab processing devices are available, however, no kebab processing device has gained widespread popularity in restaurants or butcher shops. A primary reason for this is that most restaurants and butcher shops do not make enough kebabs to justify the expense of the devices heretofore available. Furthermore, even where expense is not a deterrent, the need to economize on the use of space usually is. That is, due to the generally bulky nature of these devices, most restaurants or small butcher shops cannot justify the space required to store these devices.
These difficulties have led larger meat distribution centers, where the volume of kebabs processed can justify the expense and space of these prior art kebab processing devices, to prepare the kebab themselves for distribution to restaurants and butcher shops. Even at these larger meat distribution centers, however, the prior art devices have failed to gain acceptance and the kebabs are usually prepared by hand. Due to the delay between the processing of kebabs at these larger meat distribution centers, and the consumption of the kebabs by the consumer, significant spoilage problems arise. Once the meat and vegetables are cut into small cubes on individual skewers, air is able to envelop the kebabs on all sides, greatly diminishing the time period in which the meat and vegetables will remain fresh.
In addition to spoilage, however, the processing of kebabs at large meat distribution centers poses significant transportation problems. Specifically, the kebabs must be transported in a manner which will minimize the extent to which the kebabs rub against one another, to avoid vegetables being broken from the skewers or causing the meat and vegetables to lose their crisp or fresh-cut appearance. As a result, the assembled kebabs can take up more volume than the corresponding amount of meat and vegetables required in their assembly.
There is needed an improved means of processing kebab which will diminish the amount of time and labor involved in processing the kebabs while remaining cost- and space-efficient. Further, there is also needed an improved means of shipping kebabs to maximize the use of space, while minimizing spoilage and damage to the kebabs.